The following Australian provisional patent applications are hereby incorporated by cross-reference. For the purposes of location and identification, US patent applications identified by their US patent application serial numbers (USSN) are listed alongside the Australian applications from which the US patent applications claim the right of priority.
The present invention relates to the production of images and structures for applying translation to images and, in particular, discloses a Vending Machine for the Production of Customised Photographs and Artcards.
The present invention is designed to interact with a new camera system invented and developed by the present applicant.
Such a hand held camera device is described in Australian Provisional Patent Application No. PO7991 entitled xe2x80x9cImage Processing Method and Apparatus (Art 01)xe2x80x9d filed Jul. 15, 1997 with a large number of associated applications in addition to Australian Provisional patent Application No. PO 8505 entitled xe2x80x9cImage Processing Method and Apparatus (Art 01a)xe2x80x9d filed Aug. 11, 1997, again with a number of associated applications. To the extent necessary, the above specifications are hereby incorporated by cross reference.
The aforementioned patent specifications disclose a camera system, hereinafter known as an xe2x80x9cArtcamxe2x80x9d type camera, wherein sensed images can be directly printed out by an Artcam portable camera unit. Further, the aforementioned specification discloses means and methods for performing various manipulations on images captured by the camera sensing device leading to the production of various effects in any output image. The manipulations are disclosed to be highly flexible in nature and can be implemented through the insertion into the Artcam of cards having encoded thereon various instructions for the manipulation of images, the cards hereinafter being known as Artcards. The Artcam finther has significant onboard processing power through the utilization of Artcam Central Processor unit (ACP) which is interconnected to a memory device for the storage of important data and images.
It will be evident that, with such an arrangement of Artcam devices and corresponding Artcards, over a time, a huge proliferation of Artcards can arise. The Artcards can be provided for the arbitrary manipulation of an image and, it would therefore be desirable to provide a user with the capability of creating Artcards on demand in order to suit personal projected requirements.
It is an object of the present invention to provide for an automated Artcard creation machine which provides a user with a customisable Artcard so as to meet their personal needs.
In accordance with a first aspect of the present invention, there is provided a method of creating a set of instructions for the manipulation of an image, the method comprising the steps of displaying an initial array of sample images for a user to select from; accepting a user""s selection of at least one of the sample images; utilizing attributes of the images selected to produce a further array of sample images; iteratively applying the previous steps until such time as the user selects at least one final suitable image; utilising the steps used in the creation of the sample image as the set of instructions; outputting the set of instructions.
The method can further include scanning a user""s photograph and utilising the scanned photograph as an initial image in the creation of each of the sample images. The instructions can be printed out in an encoded form on one surface of a card in addition to printing out a visual representation of the instructions on a second surface of the card. Additionally, the manipulated image can itself be printed out.
Various techniques can be used in the creation of images including genetic algorithm or genetic programming techniques to create the array. Further, xe2x80x98best so farxe2x80x99 images can be saved for use in the creation of further images.
The method is preferably implemented in the form of a computer system incorporated into a vending machine for dispensing cards and photos.